Courses

Transmitting excellence and know-how

Michel Nadaïis an internationally renowned, award-winning decorativepainter and author. As an artisan active in his field, his teachings focuses on techniques and know-how that will best meet the needs of today's decorative painters. During the past 25 years Michel had the pleasure of teaching and transmitting techniques and know-how in the European techniques of decorative painting to students from over 20 different countries.

At Atelier Nadaï it is our hope that by acquiring a solid foundation in the subjects we offer, it will help you in your future projects, whether you wish to practice full-time as a professional or as a serious amateur. We also hope that you will not only benefit from this in-depth training but also enjoy your stay in our beautiful southwest of France!

Our craft is constantly evolving... message from Michel Nadaï

The craft of decorative painting, like all other trades, is in constant evolution as our clientele is become more demanding. Yesterday's definition of a decorative painter was an artisan who specialised in marbling and graining, who also did patina effects, sign paintings, and occasionally skies and landscape seneries. There was a clear line that separated Fine Arts and decorative painting, where on one side the artist was a creator and on the other side the artisan was one who embellished a space.

Today all this seems to be changing, the frontier between the two worlds is not as rigid as before, clients are more informed and search for originality, creativity and know-how. Artists are also giving it a shot by offering to paint murals, thereby pushing us decorative painters to realise the importance of perspective drawing, format and planes in order to compete with this new rival in the market. The decorative painter's craft has expanded, techniques that were once reserved to Fine Art are now being adopted; in today's image-oriented world, it becomes urgent that advanced techniques are used to offer a demanding clientele the high end work they're expecting.

This is why since several years we've been inviting accomplished artisans and master artists who come and teach their specialty courses at our school. We made the choice to broaden the range of subjects we offer to our students, even adding subjects that some may classify as fine art. We are convinced that as decorative painters we can greatly benefit by studying academic disciplines. Like any profession, our craft evolves and it's up to each one of us to lay down the foundations that will guarantee the tradition but also embrase the constant evolution of our trade.

Today, in a world that is becoming more and more complex, beauty and art matter even more!

Michel Nadaï

A little word about ATELIER NADAÏ...
All our courses are taught in French and in English at our atelier located in the beautiful southwest region of France. Japanese students are also welcome, as we have a full-time in-house translator - Kyoko Nadaï!

Among its numerous activities, our atelier is registered as a private vocational training center at the Prefecture of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
Head instructor, Michel Nadaï, is an award winning decorative painting artist/artisan (Best Craftsman of France). Although teaching takes up a lot of his time, he is also an active decorative painter, taking on commissioned work and also creating fine-art paintings for private/pubic exhibitions.
Kyoko Nadaï is in charge of the administrative side of our business. She is also here to serve as simultaneous interpreter for students who feel more comfortable in English or in Japanese!

Our atelier is located in beautiful southwest France. We just moved to a new location in the town of Agen, which is situated halfway between the great cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse. Agen is described as 'Lovely French City Featuring World Famous Prunes, Medieval Alleys and Waterways', it is easily reached from Paris, Bordeaux or Toulouse.